Tamori and Takeuchi Yoshie Present Music Station Japan
Popular Japanese music programme Music Station [M-Sta] has caused controversy over a netizen’s discovery of its audience selection procedures.
The audience members are recruited via a website, CLAP&WALK, according to very specific conditions: they must be female, aged between 18 and 25, and they can’t be ugly.
Since the conditions for selection were first uploaded to a Twitter account, they have been re-tweeted over ten thousand times, and have drawn comments from all corners of the Internet.
From Yahoo Japan:
‘Music Station’ Audience Members ‘Selected For Their Looks’?: Opinions Divided Over Condition That Participants Are ‘Female Aged Between 18 and 25 and Provide a Picture of Their Face For Selection’.
Apparently, the conditions for participant selection for the studio recording of the music program ‘Music Station’ (TV Asahi) are that ‘you are female and aged between 18 and 25, and that you provide a picture of your face, upon which your selection will be based’.
People who saw these requirements made their anger known, saying, ‘So you can’t be a boy or ugly!’, and the mixture of differing opinions has become a talking point.
■’It’s gender discrimination. If you’re a boy or ugly, then you’re not allowed to go and see the show.’
On the website ‘CLAP&WALK’, which recruits audience members and extras for television programmes, an audience member recruitment notice was posted under the title ‘Popular Music Programme ♪ ☆ Special End of Year Live Broadcast With Amazing Performers’. When you register as a member of the site, the full terms and conditions for recruitment are displayed.
More than 25 groups of amazing artists ☆, plus Tamori and the announcer Takeuchi Yoshie […] Please note: You must be a female between 18 and 25, and if you do not provide a picture of your face on which selection is based, your application will not be considered. The picture cannot be a purikura photograph. No high school students. […] Those who are selected based on their photographs must participate in an audience member selection meeting on the day prior to the show, when those who will appear in the live taping will be decided.
The name of the television programme was not given, but from the detail that ‘Tamori and television announcer Takeuchi Yoshie‘ would be involved, and from the fact that it was to be recorded on December 21, 2012, with the recording location being the Makuhari Messe, there was virtually no mistake that it was going to be the recording of the ‘Music Station Super Live 2012’ to be broadcast on December 21.
A Twitter user who discovered this information posted a tweet with a screen capture of the original audience information, saying, ‘M-Sta’s audience selection really is gender discrimination. If you’re a boy and ugly, then you’re not allowed to go and see the show. So it’s only for cute girls who’re going to look good on camera. Due to the statements about age, gender, and selection based on photographs, it seems that the programme has been criticised because “you can’t participate if you’re a boy or ugly”‘.
The original tweet
Aside from drawing reactions such as ‘Is this for real? yabai. And I even went to the trouble of applying, too!’, ‘It’s so blatant that I can’t say anything other than that I’m astounded’, and ‘Why don’t they ask a fucking model agency’, the tweet has been re-tweeted over ten thousand times, and has become a huge talking point.
On the other hand, there are lots of tweets casting doubt on this story such as: ‘They’re making a TV programme, it’s obvious that they wouldn’t want people there who’d ruin the atmosphere’, ‘It’s only an entertainment programme, it goes without saying that they only choose good-looking girls for their audience’, ‘It’s not only Music Station, it’s applied to almost every programme here’.
The original commenter was surprised to see so many re-tweets, so they deleted the relevant tweets.
In addition, the year-end live show ‘Music Station Super Live’ has also officially recruited audience on their corporate website, which only requires contact details such as address, name, age, and telephone number, and who you would like to support. There’s also the fact that some fan clubs of artists scheduled to appear selected participants through a lottery. It seems that only some audience has been selected based upon their photos.
When the company Architect, which runs the website CLAP & WALK, was asked whether ‘photo selection’ was intended to recruit audience members who look good on TV, and why there are limits for sex or age, the company didn’t respond. TV Asahi, which produces and broadcasts the show, made it clear that this recruitment was not made by them and also didn’t respond to questions.
Comments from Yahoo Japan:
ルーキー（cpz…）さん:
I’ve never seen any male audience members on there, that’s for sure. It’s unnatural.
tyo*ob*n*su（tyo…）さん:
If they’re not selected randomly and they’re auditioned, then they should pay them at least what they’d get for a part-time job. They’re using them to make the programme look good aren’t they?
じゅぅてきゅうめ（bas…）さん:
I think it’s pretty obvious that this kind of thing would divide opinions.
cal**ejo*ney（cal…）さん:
So people who’ve applied again and again and who’ve missed out every time are ugly. What the hell. They should be angry.
くま0756（asf…）さん:
This way of doing things is bound to be criticised.
日曜はさんどりすなー（jp8…）さん:
Now that you mention it, I get the impression that it’s all girls. I guess they’re concerned about how it looks on TV?
taishilove-sakurako（tai…）さん:
It’s perfectly reasonable that this kind of blatant way of doing things would be criticised.
v_b（v_b…）さん:
It’s obvious, isn’t it? They all clap for the performers who appear, and scream for them. If they’re too ugly for a close-up, it spoils the overall programme.
それが問題だ？（fro…）さん:
If you think of this as being for a driving licence or your health insurance card, then it’s funny. But they even have this kind of thing when you’re interviewed for a job.
don**kodon*201*（don…）さん:
All women.
Comments from 2ch.net:
縞三毛(関東・甲信越)：
From the company’s perspective, they gain nothing from having an ugly audience. Ugly people should just pay money so that companies would consider them a new source of income.
キジトラ(関東・甲信越)：
Even though they’re not really songs that you’d cry at, the fact that there are still girls who do cry on there is probably because they select girls who’ll cry on cue.
三毛(東日本)：
I guess they were trying not to cause this kind of broadcasting disaster:
ツシマヤマネコ(兵庫県)：
There’s no way we could have ‘monsters’ in the front row who make more of an impact than the artists. The company would be flooded with complaints.
ヨーロッパヤマネコ(愛知県)：
Just the same as bunch of aliens at XJAPAN’s gigs eh? They even don’t know the songs ha!
ユキヒョウ(東日本)：
Isn’t it just time that we accepted a beauty is officially worth more than a beast?
三毛(茸)：
Surely it lowers the quality of the show…
ジャパニーズボブテイル(埼玉県)：
Just recruit extras for all the audience then!
ハバナブラウン(福岡県)：
Well the audience is part of stage direction and composition though, isn’t it?
黒(富山県)：
It’s nothing like discrimination as it’s only consideration due to security.
